


Life Really Sucks, but It Sucks a Little Less With You

by Aevilok



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Hybrid AU, M/M, Multi, They suck, Wow, also warning: abusive and alcoholic parents, inside a HS AU, look at all the AUs, warning: suicidal thoughts mentioned, which is pre FAHC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-10-24 14:11:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10743306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aevilok/pseuds/Aevilok
Summary: A hybrid AU inside a HS AU which is pre FAHC. Gavin is a bird hybrid in a world where hybrids are seen as being lesser beings and are forced to where a shock collar to keep them in check. He has always been targeted because of being a hybrid, openly gay, scrawny, and pretty much everything about him. And now his mom is moving them to Texas, because, you know, that's a place that is always super accepting of people who are different. While there he meets a bunch of other hybrids who are also just about as fed up with everything to do with anything as he is. They get together and much mischief and mayhem ensues as they try and find a way to be happy in the shitty world they live in. (Everybody else's hybrids are cat Michael, bull Ryan, bun Ray, lion Jack, ram Geoff, and fox Jeremy; I couldn't find a good precedent for Lil J so I just picked fox for all the foxy ;) puns he could make)





	1. Prologue-ish Thing; More like an extended summary tbh

Anybody could tell you life as a hybrid isn’t easy. Not only do you have to deal with the biological quirks of whatever animal fate dealt to be a part of your genes, and there are some unlucky people out there, there’s also all the bigotry. Everywhere you turn, it seems there’s some asshole ready to call you an abomination or a freak of nature or worse. You’re lucky if name calling is all they do.

More often than not, they try to physically impress their opinion upon you, as if they could beat the different out of you. More than one hybrid has been found dead, beaten to death, drowned, shot; take your pick of gruesome deaths, it’s probably happened. You could always go to the police, but it’s hit or miss whether they’ll actually do something, or join in for a few good hits of their own. 

There is also the whole government gifted monitors. Every hybrid gets them at birth. They’re essentially a high-tech collar that the government uses to keep track of hybrids, to make sure that they don’t hurt anybody. They come equipped with their very own, handy dandy electric shock system that certain figures of authority, such as school principals, police officers, and military personnel, had controllers for, so they could deal with any hybrid that was acting “out of control”. And of course, it’s not like anybody ever bloody abused those. Never. Because people in power are never corrupt. Right.

Yeah, basically life as a hybrid sucks, especially for a noticeable hybrid, like Gavin. Some hybrids’ animalistic features are small or insignificant enough that they can be hidden, and so long as you find a way to make the collar unrecognizable, you can pass as a normal. As a bird hybrid, Gavin’s not so lucky. He has a large set of wings growing out of his back. When he was younger, they had been smaller, less conspicuous, and he had been able to hide them by binding them up and wearing bulky clothing. It had hurt like hell, but it had spared him the bigotry for a time being, and that’s what mattered. And then he hit middle school and binding his wings stopped being an option.

There was a lot that Gavin could say about just how much that sucked, about how every day was like hell, how he lost friends he’d thought he could trust day one, how there had been times when he’d thought killing himself was the better option. But why bore you with the details, life’s all about the now anyway. And right now, about to start his Sophomore year of high school, Gavin’s life sucks more than ever, for one key reason.

That reason: Gavin was moving across the country, because yet again, his mom had changed jobs. More specifically, Gavin was moving across the country to Texas. The capital of bigotry. Gavin was moving to the capital of bigotry as a gay, gawky, hybrid. He was fucked.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People suck. This is a fact that has been true for all of time. As long as people have existed, they have been hateful and spiteful and cruel. They don't care about anybody but themselves. They love to target anyone and anything that's different. Because if it's different then it has to be bad.

People can suck in a lot of different ways, too. They can just be mean and petty. They could be drunks or abusive. They could be racist or homophobic. Maybe both. And the worst part about all those different kinds of sucky people is that they almost always flock together, to destroy whatever shows up in their path. And unfortunately for Michael, he just happened to be it.

Michael Jones has always possessed a very fuck you attitude towards life, ingrained in him by the fact the life has always said fuck you to him first. Being born as a hybrid sucks shit, any hybrid will tell you that. People hate you for something you can't control and you get the shit kicked out of you pretty regularly. Not to mention the fucking creeps who wanna make you into some sick fetish. As a cat hybrid, Michael has a deep hatred for those assholes, ever since one of them tried to take him when he was little.

But the point is, life forced Michael to grow up fast and taught him lessons the hard way. Don't trust strangers. Don't trust classmates. Don't trust anybody but you, because you're the only one who gives a shit about you. If you want something, you've gotta take it because nobody is gonna give it to you. If you wanna keep something, you better be prepared to fight for it because someone will try and take it. Someone always does.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you are headed off to war, you put on your war paint. This is Gavin's first day in these new trenches and so he's extra careful with his.

Gavin wakes up to the sound of his alarm going off and he has to fight the urge to hide himself under his covers. Maybe, just maybe, if he pretends not to hear it, he won’t actually have to go to school today. He sighs, resigning himself to reality, and reaches for his phone to switch the alarm off.

Sitting up, he rolls his shoulders and flexes his wings minutely, trying to shake the sleep from his system. It’s his first day of hell, and in order to be appropriately dressed, his morning routine takes a good two, two and a half hours every day. His mum likes to tease him that he takes longer than she ever did when she was a teenager, but his reply is always that perfection takes time.

So he gets up and shuffles to the bathroom to get started. He took a shower and preened last night, like always, because if he tried to add that to his morning routine too, he’d be getting up at 4 am, rather than 5, and no amount of beauty is worth that.

He takes a moment to look around the bathroom at all the moving boxes before quietly cursing to himself. He had had the forethought last night to prep his outfit for today beforehand; it was currently sitting folded on his dresser. Why had his brain not thought to gather his makeup kit too? Sitting on the sink was only the bare essentials: tooth brush, tooth paste, brush, moisturizer. All things he had used last night. He didn’t even know where his hair gel was, let alone everything else.

He thought about yelling for his mum to come help him find everything, but he had heard her come in late last night, so late, in fact, that it would be more accurate to say early this morning. It was probably best not to wake her until she would need to be up to drive him in. So instead, he set about searching through the mountain of boxes one at a time. By the time he was through his 5th box, 20 minutes had passed with no sign of his makeup or his hair gel, and he was seriously getting frazzled. At this rate, even if he found his things, he wouldn’t have enough time to apply everything.

Just as he was about to just say fuck it, he could go to hell looking like a gremlin, in a way it would be fitting, he finally found the box full of his stuff, and it was only 5:40. He still had almost 2 hours left to do everything before his mum took him in. He would make it work.

For the next hour and a half, he let his phone play his bitchiest playlist in the bathroom while he applied his makeup, fixed his hair, and decked out his wings, trying to psych himself up to the right mindset. He would lock away his heart, create a fake doll to put on display, and they wouldn’t be able to hurt him. By the time he emerged, he looked perfect and felt untouchable.

He went back to his room and quickly changed into his outfit before checking the time. 7:17. He had just over 10 minutes left before he had to go. He rifled through his bag one last time to make sure that he wasn’t forgetting anything before shouldering it and heading back into the hallway and towards his mum’s room.

When he got there, the door was slightly ajar, and as he peaked in, he could see his mum snoring softly as she slept on top of her sheets, surrounded by different boxes in different states of unpacking, and he felt his heart soften just a bit. He had been angry when she had told him they were moving yet again, angrier still when it had been to here, but deep down he knew how hard she worked to support them. After all, she was a hybrid too, and he didn’t imagine it became any easier once you left high school.

Softly he walked in and smoothed down her feathers where they were sticking out oddly. He gently shook her shoulder, but it was enough to wake her. Generally speaking, bird hybrids are light sleepers. Her sleepy gaze met his and she smiled lazily, murmuring a tired “Good morning.”

He smiled back at her and whispered, “We need to leave for school, Mum.” At that, she rolled over to glance at her own clock. Seeing the time, she heaved a sigh and rolled out of bed, Gavin moving back to give her enough room. Wordlessly she trudged from the room, through the hallway, and downstairs to the entrance way to throw on some shoes. Unlike Gavin, she generally didn’t really care about looking nice when she went out, and with school now just over 30 minutes away, Gavin was too in his head to comment about it like he usually would.

Instead he slipped into his custom boots and wordlessly followed his mum out the door only to stop dead in his tracks. Sitting in their driveway, their car was covered in graffiti. Colorful letters spelled out hateful words and all Gavin could do was look at his mum for explanation, because she didn’t seem surprised. As answer she simply offered, “It happened while I was at work yesterday,” before continuing to the car and getting in the driver’s seat.

Gavin could think of nothing to say and so he simply followed and got into the front seat. His body was on auto pilot, buckling him in, while his thoughts raced almost as fast as his fear gripped heart. All morning he had been trying to prepare himself for this, he had known it was coming. But this felt too personal, the words already attacking him before he had even gotten to campus yet. And he knew that these words weren’t meant for him, that whoever had painted them on didn’t even know he existed, but that didn’t make them sting any less.

He could feel his mum watching him as she pulled out of the drive and started down the road, trying to judge how he was doing. He wanted to smile at her, to ease her worries, but right now he was just doing his best not to hyperventilate. It was 7:26 and the school was about a 10 minute drive from their house, which means he had 10 minutes to prepare himself before he would be thrust into the trenches.

Wordlessly, his mum reached over and carded her hand through his feathers, and he felt his shoulders relax a little. It was something she had done since she was little and Gavin couldn’t explain why but it was the most soothing thing in the world. But then his mind flashed to his carefully manicured wings and he grabs her hand to stop it, pulling it down to his lap instead. When she sends him a confused look, he says, “You’ll mess up my wings.” She nods and squeezes his hand in response.

The 10 minute drive passes by way too quickly and all too soon, Gavin’s mum is pulling into the school parking lot. Gavin sees the students heading into the school all turn and stare at their car and curses inwardly. Of course they notice the slurs. You’d have to be blind not to. How lovely, his chance for first impressions stolen by his own bloody car.

His mum pulls into a parking space right next to the schools sidewalk and parks the car, moving to unbuckle. Hurriedly, Gavin moves to stop her. “Mum, I don’t need you to come in with me.” She opens her mouth to argue but he cuts her off. “This is hardly my first first day of school and I’ve already been here to meet the principal, remember. The car has already given a bad enough impression about me to everybody, last thing I need is for everyone to see me walking in with you looking awful in your pajamas.”

Okay, so he might have worded that a bit harshly, given the hurt look on her face, and true, it’s not exactly like the car is her fault, but he needs to get going. He only has 20 minutes until 8 and he still doesn’t even know what his first class is. So before she can say a word, he leans over and kisses her on the cheek before hopping out of the car and walking confidently towards the doors. He could already see people around him whispering, pointing. From here on out, he was an actor playing the part of confident, untouchable Gavin Free, too cool to let cruel words hurt him and too dazzling for fists to hit.

He kept repeating that to himself like a mantra all the way to the school office, and almost like it was a magic spell protecting him, he managed to make it there with only whispers and stares following him. He walked up to the secretary and smiled at her as prettily as he could manage. “Hi there, I’m Gavin Free, I’m –”

“New here? No kidding. Here’s your schedule, your locker is number 208, now leave before you start to molt. Don’t make me call the principal out here to zap you.”

Ah, bigotry, just like he remembered it. He kept his smile on his face and reached out to take his schedule from her. The moment his hand got close to hers though, she dropped the schedule and he had to bend down and grab it. When he returned to standing, his gaze met her hateful one and he put on a smirk. “Don’t worry love. I know I’m quite pretty, so it’s understandable, you being too flustered to hold on to a piece of paper right. I won’t tell anyone.”

From behind him, Gavin heard a laugh that someone quickly hid in a cough, but he couldn’t turn to see who his fan was because he was currently in the stare down of his life with the secretary, who looked like she was a second away from having an aneurism, she was that pissed. Finally she gritted out, “Classes. Now. Or I call the principal, you disgusting freak.”

Gavin smiled brightly at her and responded, “Hope you have a wonderful day.” Then he deliberately turned so that his wings smacked into the things on her desk, knocking several things over. At her outburst, he turned around and said, “Sorry, I was so busy trying not to molt, I accidentally knocked over some of your things. My bad.” With that he turned back around, pausing to look at the only other student in the office, a bull hybrid who must have been his audience by the looks of it. Masking his surprise at seeing another hybrid by winking at him, Gavin exited the office, trying not to wince in regret at how confrontational he’d been.

He looked down at his schedule and tried not to groan in despair. His first class was Computer Sciences, and while he loved the subject, he remembered from the tour the principal gave him that the computer lab was one of the farthest classes from him. There was no way he was going to make it there on time. Which meant he was going to be late, on his first day, to his favorite class, making the teacher who probably already hated him hate him more. Great. He headed off towards the classroom, unaware of the bull hybrid’s gaze, which was still following him through the office window, or the amused smile that was on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is this mysterious bull hybrid I wonder, lol.  
> I'm so sorry for that chapter summary orz. I just had no idea what to do for it that wouldn't be a spoiler. But anyways, the story begins, with the most creative chapter title ever. Hopefully there aren't too many typos. And any comments, constructive criticism or the like are appreciated~


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael has never really been one for believing in heaven or angels, not with the hell he lives through every day, but when Gavin Free walks into his classroom, he might just have to change his mind.

If you had told Michael when he woke up this morning that he was going to meet an actual angel, he would have punched you in the face. Angels don’t exist in hell. And yet, bursting in to his Computer Science class five minutes after the bell rang was the most angelic being that Michael thought could possibly exist. 

Everything about him was beautiful. His hair was perfectly styled and was golden like the sunlight. His bubblegum pink button-up, worn with a pair of white skinny jeans and some fancy ass boots, made him look like a model. There was gold framing his eyes, making them seem as though there was a light captured inside them, dancing to get out. And his wings. His wings were the most beautiful thing about him.

They were speckled with a blend of light brown and cream colored splotches, and they looked to be about the softest things in the universe. Michael felt his tail twitch with the urge to bury his hands in their feathers, to see if they were as soft as they looked. And laced throughout the feathers were small baubles that made it look as though his wings were bejeweled. In a word, Michael was awestruck.

Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew that the boy who had just entered his classroom wasn’t actually an angel. He was just an extremely attractive bird hybrid. But that did not stop Michael’s heart from racing, especially when the boy’s gaze met Michael’s and he saw a smirk grace the boy’s features.

It was only when Mr. Hale, the Computer Science class’ teacher, cleared his throat that Michael was freed from his daze. Michael felt his cheeks burn. He had been staring at the boy pretty intensely, others had surely noticed. But much like Michael had been, the whole room was transfixed by this new creature that was suddenly among them, everyone waiting breathlessly to see what he would do first. 

Michael glanced up at the clock to see how long he had been staring and was surprised to see that it hadn’t even been two minutes since the boy had entered the room. His effect had been so heady that Michael had felt that for sure it had been longer. Even now, Michael felt his gaze drawn back to the boy, who had now turned to face the teacher, who appeared to be the only one not under his spell.

“Mr. Free, I presume?” Hale asked, boredom in his tone. As much as Michael wanted to be surprised that Hale wasn’t entranced by the boy, he really wasn’t. Hale had a reputation for being one of the laziest teachers in the school. Nothing seemed to excite him. It was part of why Michael liked him, because with his teacher not giving a shit, he didn’t have to try that hard in his class. 

The boy nodded in response. “Sorry I’m late, but I had to stop by the office to pick up my schedule. It took me just a bit too long to get here.” 

British. He was fucking British. As if he wasn’t swoon-worthy enough, he had to have an accent as well. Like any true American, Michael loved accents. If he had been standing, he probably would’ve been weak in the knees.

“Whatever. Class hadn’t really started up anyways. Take a seat somewhere so I can take roll and get this show on the road.” Hale, who had stood up when the boy had entered, Michael noticed belatedly, shuffled back to his seat and sat back down.

“I can sit anywhere?” the boy (Michael was dying to learn his first name) asked.

Hale just waved a hand towards the rest of the room, gesturing for him to do as he pleased. With the grace of a god, Michael watched as the boy moved across the room directly towards Michael. Breath left Michael as the literal vision stopped in front of him and actually spoke to him. “Is the seat beside you taken?”

Michael’s brain froze. Words. He was supposed to be speaking words right now. He had to tell the perfect human in front of him, that no the seat wasn’t taken, he could sit there, he could sit wherever he wanted, he could have Michael’s seat if he wanted. These were all things he should be saying. Instead, what left his mouth was, “Sit on me.”

Well fucking god damnit.

The whole class burst into laughter at his obvious mistake. Even Hale, unchanging, unfeeling Hale, snorted from behind his desk. Michael wanted to die. The boy, however, didn’t laugh.

He just smiled down at Michael, amusement in his eyes. “Well I appreciate the offer, but I do think you should take me out to dinner first.” With that he winked at Michael and pulled out the chair at the neighboring computer and sat down. 

For all the laughter that had filled the room before, it was like someone had flipped a switch. It was dead silent now. Everyone was reeling from shock at how the angel boy had responded. He had been flirty. With a hybrid. With a guy. As if someone had dumped ice water on their heads, the rest of the class fell out of their trance and back into their usual bigoted selves. Everyone except Michael, that is. Michael was oblivious to everything except the pounding of his heart and the very nearness of the boy next to him. 

From his seat at the head of the class, Hale sighed before speaking with his voice raised slightly to make sure he got everyone’s attention. “Alright, I’m going to start roll, now that we have effectively wasted the first ten minutes of class. When I say your name, say here. I’m not feeling particularly motivated today, so after roll, we’ll have a free day. Do whatever you want, just don’t bother me.” He paused a moment to make sure that the room had understood him before starting roll. 

“Amanda?”

“Here.”

“Josh?”

“Yo.”

“Andrew?”

“Present.”

“Malory?”

“Here.”

On and on it went, and for the first time in his life, Michael listened with rapt attention. He knew the names of most everyone in the room; unfortunately he had grown up with these assholes. So he knew that the moment he heard a new name, that would be the name of his new neighbor. 

“Gavin?”

Holy shit.

“Pretty and present.”

Gavin. His name was Gavin. Michael knew his name. The rest of roll passed in a blur. When Michael’s name was called out, he responded on autopilot, too occupied with trying to figure out how on earth he was going to start up a conversation with Gavin. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice when roll call ended. It was only when he felt pain shoot up his spine that he was pulled out of his thoughts. 

He hissed in pain as he turned to see who the asshole was that was stepping on his tail. Josh Yates. Why wasn’t he surprised. “Hey asshole,” he growled out. “You’re stepping on my tail.”

Josh ignored him, acting as if he had never heard him. Instead he spoke to Gavin, who was eyeing him with plain distaste. “So, Gavin, is it? What brings a fag freak like you down here to our neck of the woods?” 

Michael felt the rage build in his stomach. He was about to repeat himself, with some physical action backing up his words to make sure he was heard, when he felt something soft brush his arm. When he glanced down, he saw that Gavin had moved his wings in a way so that they were brushing up against Michael. When Michael shifted his glance to Gavin’s face, he got the feeling that it was intentional, if the look Gavin had briefly shot him had meant anything. 

Turning his attention to Josh, Gavin stood up, stepping purposefully into his space. “I don’t believe we’ve had the unfortunate displeasure of meeting. Who are you?” The disdain in Gavin’s voice was as sharp as a knife and that combined with the way he was invading Josh’s space forced him to take a step back, off of Michael’s tail. 

Michael let out a quiet sigh of relief before shooting Gavin a measuring gaze. Had that all been intentional? Michael didn’t have much time to think about it because things started to escalate quickly. 

Josh all to soon got over his moment of intimidation and glared back at Gavin. “The name’s Josh. Not that I want a fag like you to ever say it. Just the thought of it makes me want to puke.”

“I never thought that I could have something in common with someone as disgusting as you, but what do you know. I feel the same. You learn something new every day.” Though his face looked at Josh with so much disgust it was lethal, Gavin almost sounded bored when he said it. 

“What the fuck did you just say?” Josh was the one to step into Gavin’s space this time. That was the moment that Michael decided it was time he step in.

“Back the fuck up, Josh.” Michael stood and shoved himself in between the two of them. “Unless you want to get your ass beat.” 

Josh scoffed as he looked down at Michael (Josh, unfortunately, was a fucking giant; at 6’1, he was a decent amount taller than Michael at 5’8). “You couldn’t hurt me even if I gave you a free shot, kitty cat.”

Michael hissed. “Don’t fucking call me that.”

Josh smirked, pleased that he hit a nerve. “What’s the matter, I hurt the poor putty tats feelings?”

Michael was two seconds away from landing one square in Josh’s ugly face when Gavin spoke again. “Wow. Just when I thought you couldn’t sound any dumber. Is it normal for people around here to talk like a toddler, or is it just your brain that’s particularly stupid?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m genuinely shocked. Scientists should study you to see how someone as able to live with so few functioning brain cells.” 

Michael couldn’t help it. He laughed. The flabbergasted look on Josh’s face was just too priceless; he wasn’t used to other people talking circles around him like this. From just behind him, he heard Gavin join in. 

“Holy shit,” he laughed, “I think you just broke him, Gavin. Look at his face.”

“Nonsense. He’s been that ugly from the start, Michael boi.” They laughed even harder.

“That’s it,” Josh snapped. He grabbed Michael by the collar and pulled his arm back. Michael braced himself, but he couldn’t help thinking that getting punched was more than worth it if it made Gavin laugh like that. 

Before Josh’s fist could connect with his face though, Hale’s voice rang through the room. “Mr. Yates! You will unhand Mr. Jones immediately.” Michael opened his eyes in shock at being saved by Hale of all people and stifled his laughter at the look on Josh’s face. He looked like he was constipated or some shit. Slowly Josh released his shirt and Michael stepped back so he was shoulder to shoulder with Gavin. They both watched as Josh stomped off back to his seat. 

“Mr. Free, Mr. Jones,” the grin that had been on Michael’s face quickly faded. Fuck, he had hoped that they would have escaped Hale’s ire. Michael slowly turned to face Hale, Gavin turning with him. “It would be wise of you to refrain from antagonizing students in my classroom any further. If this happens again, I will not hesitate to send you to the principal so I don’t have to deal with you troublesome children again. Am I clear?”

Michael nodded while Gavin beside him froze for just a moment at the mention of the principal. But by the time Michael had turned his head to see why Gavin had froze, he had recovered, responding with the ease from earlier. 

“But of course, sir. I deeply apologize that our bit of innocent teasing got out of hand.” To punctuate his comment, he even added a little bit of a bow at the end.  
Hale’s only response was a roll of his eyes and a dismissive wave of his hand. 

Michael turned around and sat back down in front of his computer, stealing a glance over at Gavin who was doing the same, only to find Gavin looking over at him too. The distraction of Josh gone, Michael felt the overwhelming awe of Gavin washing over him again. He cleared his throat and tried to talk, praying for more success than he had had last time. “So… you’re name’s Gavin?” 

Smooth, real smooth.

If Gavin noticed his awkwardness though, he didn’t comment on it. He just smiled at Michael again and nodded. “Gavin David Free, the beautiful bird hybrid at your service. And you’re… Michael Jones, right?” 

Michael nodded, Gavin’s smile putting him more at ease. “An average, completely normal cat hybrid at your service.”

“Michael boi, you’re anything but average. Did you see the way you stuck up for me? I mean, it wasn’t really necessary, but it was really brave. That was anything by ordinary.” 

Michael snorted. “Please, that would 90% just me being pissed about the asshole stepping on my tail. It was just a bonus that it looked like defending you too.”

There was a moment’s pause before Gavin responded and when he did, he seemed almost bashful, an emotion that seemed out of place given his smooth demeanor that he had upheld this whole time. “Say, Michael?”

“What, Gavin?”

“You’re a cat hybrid, right?”

An amused yet confused smile found its way onto Michael’s face. “Yes, I thought we already covered this.”

“So you have them right?” When Michael cocked his head in confusion, still not understanding, Gavin added, “Kitty ears?”

Michael immediately raised his guard. As a cat hybrid, you get used to certain people thinking about you in certain disgusting ways. It was rare that it happened with other hybrids, but Gavin hadn’t been anything like other hybrids so far, and while Michael found him mesmerizing, that didn’t mean he couldn’t turn out to be a piece of shit. “Yes.”

“Do you… do you think I could see them?” Gavin was almost bouncing in his seat with excitement.

“Why?”

“I wanna see if your ears have the same coloring as my lovely Smee!”

Michael was stunned for a moment. That was not the answer he was expecting. Swallowing the grin that was fighting to be on his face, he asked, “Smee?”

Gavin’s face lost all of the earlier nonchalantness it had had before; now he just looked like a child, his face lit up with utter adoration. “Smee! My darling lovely little fuzz ball of a Siamese kitty. She is just beautiful. Michael, she’s the prettiest cat you will ever see! Her ears are the softest things and the look so cute on her little head!”

Michael couldn’t help but smile at Gavin’s excitement. Like this, Michael could barely believe that breath-taking aura he had exuded earlier was anything but his own fantasy. “Well,” he said, “I am not a Siamese hybrid, so I can tell you right now that my ears don’t look like hers.”

Gavin’s face fell. “Aww, that’s such a shame, Michael, if you had ears like Smee, you would look even more lovely.” Michael felt his face heat as his heart reminded him that this was indeed the same boy who, when he had walked into the room just under an hour ago, had bewitched Michael with a glance. 

From across the room he heard a retch and glanced over to see Josh mock gagging. Loudly, he said, “Two abominations flirting openly, I think I’m gonna be sick.” Random laughs sounded off in the rest of the room. 

Michael bristled and was about to snap a response when the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Everyone began filing out of the room, Mr. Hale first among them. He felt the same soft texture brush his arm from earlier and looked down to see Gavin’s wing touching him again. 

“Michael, I’m afraid I still don’t know my way around all too well. Would you be willing to help me find my way to my next class, Geometry, I think it was?”

Immediately Michael felt some of his irritation melt away and he nodded. “Sure, that’s my next class too.”

Gavin’s face lit up and he took Michael’s arm. “Lead the way, Michael boi!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE!  
> Life just kind of got way busier for me, plus I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted this second chapter to go. I think I restarted it about 5 times *sob*   
> Also I'm sorry they are so OOC rn, I promise that they'll develop more of a Gavin and Michael type relationship, it's just they're still getting to know each other, this chapter was all first impressions.  
> If you're still here after this first chapter, thank you so much. And if you're still gonna hang around after this one, thank you even more. You're all amazing. I can't believe as many of you have commented on this or left kudos. I'm blown away. Seriously, just thank you guys for your patience, I'll try to do better with this next chapter.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin gets to know a little bit more about Michael and the school before bumping into someone new

Gavin’s first day was going pretty well, all things considered. He had shown up that morning prepared to have to deal with a school filled entirely with assholes. And while it was true that they were in no short supply, with individuals like Josh Yates popping up everywhere, he had also met Michael. And Michael, Gavin was finding, was an absolute joy.

In addition to Computer Science and Geometry, Michael was also in Gavin’s next class, Chemistry, where he had gotten the privelege (not that anyone was fighting him for it) of being Michael’s lab partner. Very fortunate for Gavin, who, while he had always loved the sciences, had never really been any good at understanding them. He could remember random factoids, but as for the principles, he was lost. 

Not as fortunate for Michael. Where the Chemistry gods had forsaken Gavin, they had blessed Michael. Gavin had almost had a heart attack when he saw Michael’s past tests. He could only dream of scoring that high. When he had asked Michael how he did so well in Chemistry, even though, no offense intended boi, he seemed the type to suck all around at school. The only response Gavin had received was a shrug, and Gavin just decided to write it off as an oddity of the universe.

Gavin talked to Michael a lot in those first three hours. They talked about everything from interests to family to school life. For some reason, no one else seemed to be interested in talking to the two of them. Surely it had nothing to do with the fact that they were hybrids. Or that Gavin was openly gay. Surely not.

Not that Gavin minded. He liked talking to Michael. He somehow made everything he talked about sound exciting. When he told Gavin about his friends towards the end of chemistry though, Gavin didn’t need Michael’s voice to inspire him to be excited. 

“What did you just say?” 

Michael smirked at Gavin, knowing he had just said something rather outrageous. “There are five other hybrids at this school, other than me and you.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” Michael’s smirk widened. “There’s two seniors, a junior, and two other sophomores like us.”

Gavin had to force his excitement down before he completely lost ahold of his prepared persona. “What kind of hybrids are they?”

Counting them off on his fingers, Michael listed them off. “The seniors are Geoff and Jack. Geoff’s a ram hybrid, and Jack is a lion. The junior, Ryan, is a bull hybrid. And then in our year there is Ray and Jeremy. Ray’s a rabbit hybrid and Jeremy is a fox hybrid.”

“An actual lion hybrid?” Gavin gasped.

Michael grinned and nodded. “Yup. And Jack’s mane is so fucking cool. There were a couple other hybrids who graduated last year, too.”

“I can’t believe it. I’ve never been in a school with more than one other hybrid before, and you have bloody six of ‘em here all at once.” Gavin shook his head in disbelief. “Are the other hybrids decent people or…?”

Michael snorted. “They’re absolute assholes. But they’re decent friends. None of them are homophobic or anything like that, which is a definite plus. I’ll introduce you to them at lunch.”

“As in 5 minutes from now? How am I supposed to prepare my heart that quickly? If they’re all half a cute as you, Michael, my heart might stop dead right there,” Gavin said, a teasing tone to his voice. He hid his grin as he watched a blush engulf Michael’s face. Michael had made that face whenever Gavin had said anything slightly flirtatious and Gavin couldn’t help but enjoy the power rush he got from seeing just how strongly he was able to enthrall someone. Plus Michael looked adorable like that.

“Shut up,” was Michael’s only reply. 

They spent the rest of the period in companionable silence until the bell rang 5 minutes later. As they gathered their stuff, Gavin brushed his wing up against Michael to get his attention. “I’m off to my locker but I’ll see you in the lunch room, yeah? And you can introduce me to your friends.”

Michael nodded. “Sure. I’ll wait for you at the caf entrance so you don’t have to hunt for us. Though our group does kind of stand out.”

Gavin snorted and waved at Michael before making his way into the hallway and heading off towards his locker, smile still on his face. He barely noticed the stares that always followed him as he thought about meeting Michael’s friends, his mind still blown that he was about to meet 5 other hybrids. 

His mind went back to his visit to the office that morning, and the hybrid he had noticed as he was leaving. He had been a bull hybrid. That meant that he must have been… Ryan. Gavin hadn’t gotten much more than a fleeting glance at Ryan, but now he found himself wondering why Ryan had been in the office in the first place. Had he been called to the principal’s office?

Gavin felt his wings tense up at the thought, before forcing the tension to dissipate. He had frozen earlier when Hale had threatened to send them to the principal, and while he had recovered quickly, it hadn’t been fast enough for the action to escape Michael’s notice. He had to be more careful. Michael was cute and all, but not even he could be allowed to see through Gavin Free and his glittery mask.

He had been joking earlier with what he had said about having to prepare his heart, but it wasn’t 100% untrue. He needed to get back into the mindset of the Gavin Free, the golden god who mere mortals couldn’t dream to touch. Talking with Michael had been nice, but he had also unconsciously lowered his guard, and that was no good. Friendly faces could just as easily stab you in the back, he should have learned that by now. 

He reached the end of the hall and made to turn right towards the hallway with his locker and collided with someone. Another sign talking with Michael had shaken him out of his persona. Gavin Free would never have been so absorbed in his thoughts that he would have ran into someone else. He was more aware than that. 

He immediately hopped back and started to apologize. “Terribly sorry there, love, was so wrapped up in my thoughts I…” His words died off as he saw who it was that he had bumped into. It was the fox hybrid Michael had mentioned, Jeremy maybe. He was so shocked, all he said was, “Oh.” Eloquent.

Jeremy looked just as blown away as Gavin felt, staring back at him with wide eyes. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “It’s you.”

Jeremy’s awe gave Gavin enough time to get over his momentary shock, and he recovered his smile quickly. “Indeed. And you are Jeremy, the fox hybrid in the sophomore class, right?”

Jeremy looked absolutely mystified as he nodded. “Yeah, but how…?”

“Michael told me about you,” Gavin answered his unfinished question. “In fact, he was going to introduce me to you during lunch, I was just heading to my locker first.”

Nodding again, Jeremy said, “That makes sense. Well, why don’t I go with you to your locker and then we can walk to the cafeteria together, since apparently we were eating lunch together anyway.”

Gavin smiled at Jeremy and nodded himself. “Sure, sounds top. It’s just a little bit further in this hallway.” With that he walked by Jeremy, pausing just a moment to make sure he was following before making his way towards the left side of the hall. He had no trouble getting to his locker. Whether it was because people were all already half way to lunch or because he and Jeremy were being avoided, he didn’t really care. It was better than having to shove his way through.

“So,” Jeremy said as Gavin entered his combination, “I noticed you have a British accent. Did you move here from England?”

Gavin held back his laugh at the predictable question. Michael had asked him the same thing during Geometry class. He shook his head as he pulled open his locker and shoved some books in that he wouldn’t need for the rest of the day. “Nah, my mum is, but I was born and raised here.” He shut his locker and turned towards Jeremy. “We do go back to England most summers though.”

“That’s cool,” Jeremy replied. “I’m also a transfer to Austin, but I moved here last year, and only from Boston, so not quite as cool.” Jeremy began walking down the hall back towards where he and Gavin had collided and Gavin followed along. 

There was barely anyone in the hall anymore; presumably they were all at lunch. Gavin was glad for it for more reasons than one. It was nice being able to walk with whispers following him with every step, and also, the increased room meant he could walk without having to bunch up his wings as much. Being careful not to hit Jeremy, he stretched his wings out behind the both of them and felt the muscles ache with relief. It was only when they were back folded up behind his shoulders that he noticed Jeremy staring. 

Smiling at Jeremy with all the confidence he wished he really felt, Gavin raised his eyebrows, asking, “What? Is there something on my face?” 

Jeremy shook his head but never took his eyes off Gavin’s wings. Softly, almost reverently, he whispered, “They’re so beautiful.”

Gavin blinked in surprise at the unrestrained praise before smiling at Jeremy, his wings puffing up with pride. He did put jewels in them to make them more appealing, but Gavin wasn’t really used to anyone but his mum praising any of his hybrid features so openly. “Thank you,” he replied proudly, before extending his left wing over towards Jeremy. “Do you want to feel my feathers?”

Jeremy grinned in response. “Can I?” At Gavin’s nod, he gently touched his hand to the back of Gavin’s flight feathers before running his hand down them. “They’re so soft.”

“I have to groom them every night,” Gavin said. 

Jeremy grimaced as his hand kept stroking Gavin’s wing. “That sounds like a pain.”

Gavin just shrugged. “You have to be diligent otherwise they could get dirty, or worse, your feathers could get hurt. I once broke a flight feather and had to get it plucked so the new one would grow in right. Let me tell you, that hurt like a nightmare. Not to mention how itchy it was while the new one was growing.”

Jeremy’s face lit up and he gasped. “Wait can you really fly?!”

Before Gavin could respond, he was cut off by someone clearing their throat to get their attention. Both Gavin and Jeremy looked up in surprise to see Michael, standing just outside the cafeteria entrance. “I see you two have met.”

Jeremy smiled at Michael and waved with his hand not stroking Gavin’s wing. “Hey dude. Yeah, we literally bumped into each other while he was on his way to his locker. Have you felt his wings? Holy shit, they are so fucking soft.”

Michael smiled back and there was something weirdly sharp to it. “No, not yet. After all, I don’t go around groping people I’ve just met.”

Gavin watched as Jeremy blushed and pulled his hand back, looking at Gavin in horror, like the thought that the wings were actually a part of Gavin, just like his limbs, was just now occurring to him. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, um, well, grope you or whatever!”

Gavin just laughed and bumped Jeremy with his wing before folding it back behind him. “Not to worry, Jeremy. I was the one who offered remember? Besides, your hands felt nice.” That seemed to calm Jeremy down, but when Gavin flicked his gaze over to Michael, he looked strangely irritated. Gavin couldn’t help but wonder if something had happened between the end of Chemistry and now to upset Michael. But before he could worry about it, the irritation was gone and replaced by Michael’s normal expression, or at least what Gavin thought was his normal expression. He’d only known Michael for about 3 hours now.

“What a relief, huh, Lil J? You’re not a weird groper after all.” Michael said, a teasing tone in his voice. 

Unperturbed this time, Jeremy said nothing to Michael, just rolled his eyes and went into the cafeteria, flipping Michael off as he passed.

Gavin laughed. “Lil J?”

Michael turned to him, smile on his face. “Yeah, it’s a nice name Geoff came up with. You know, cause he’s short!” He shouted the last bit after Jeremy into the cafeteria, earning another greeting from Jeremy’s middle finger, and causing both Gavin and Michael to break out in laughter.

Turning back to Gavin, Michael gestured in towards the cafeteria, “Shall we?”

Smiling back at Michael, Gavin replied, “We shall,” before heading into the school cafeteria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! And I'm sorry that all these notes are starting with apologies. Hopefully I'll get better at keeping up with this story. But FINALLY! Gavin meets one of the other guys! I went back and forth on who to have him meet first other than Michael (and that moment with Ry in the office) and in the end went with Lil J. I am disappointed I didn't get to make any puns with him this chapter though. Next time, next time. This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I figured I've made you wait long enough as it is. I'm sorry if you thought we'd finally get to meet the rest of the crew, but next chapter, I promise! To those of you who have been here since the first chapter thank you so much, and to any of you who took the time to read til now, you're amazing, like holy shit thanks for reading this. And to any of you sticking around, you're my favorite~

**Author's Note:**

> If you're seriously reading this, holy shit my dude thanks. It has been a long time since I've written anything other than headcanon babblings so please bare with me. I will try and update this at least once a month, though the goal is more frequent. I also am not having anyone check these before I post them, so if you see a mistake, be kind please~ Constructive criticism is always appreciated.


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